One of the most versatile actresses working in film today, Lili Taylor is known for taking on complex, thorny roles that many of her more glamorous colleagues avoid. In the 1990s, she became a staple of the independent film circuit, turning in one engaging performance after another in films like "The Addiction" (1995), "Girls Town" (1996), and "Pecker" (1998).
Background
Lili was born on February 20, 1967 in Glencoe, Illinois. She is one of six children who grew up in a big house in exclusive neighborhood, and her grandfather was one of the town's founders, but she does not describe her family as rich. Her father operated a hardware store. She graduated from New Trier High School, where Rock Hudson and Ann Margaret had gone to school. She attended Goodman Theatre School of DePaul University, Chicago.
Her first movie appearance on screen was a very brief part in "She's Having a Baby" in 1988, but her first featured role that same year was in the sleeper hit "Mystic Pizza".
Career
Lili Taylor began acting in Chicago's vital theater scene, training at the Piven Theater Workshop.She appeared in many regional productions, including with Chicago's Northlight Theater, before moving to New York City in 1988 where she was immediately cast in Richard Foreman's experimental "What Did He See?". While establishing herself in the off-Broadway world, Taylor landed a bit part in the John Hughes comedy "She's Having a Baby" (1988), and a short time later gained well-deserved praise and wide recognition for the sleeper hit "Mystic Pizza" (1988). The following year Taylor had a scene-stealing comic role as the guitar-wielding, emotionally scarred best friend of John Cusack's lovable Lloyd Dobbler in "Say Anything" (1989), an undisputed classic of the teenage romantic comedy genre. While she remained active on the New York stage with the Naked Angels Theater company, her screen career continued to grow with a small but moving role as a Vietnam war widow in Oliver Stone's "Born on the Fourth of July" (1989), and television roles in "Sensibility and Sense" (PBS, 1990) and the miniseries "Family of Spies" (CBS, 1990).